1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat distributor to be selectively mounted to a solder ball based electrical connector for uniform distribution of heat to the solder balls of the connector.
2. The Related Arts
An electrical connector generally comprises an insulation housing retaining a number of contacts. An electrical connector is electrically mounted to a printed circuit board by connecting tails of the contacts to corresponding conductive traces formed on the printed circuit board. Attaching an electrical connector to a printed circuit board by means of soldering is widely known in the electronic and computer industry. One of the problems encountered by the industry is heat distribution to the contact tails of the connector and conductive traces of the printed circuit board. In some soldering technologies, such as SMT (Surface Mount Technology), solder paste is applied to the conductive traces in advance. The solder paste must be simultaneously and homogeneously melted and solidified during the SMT process in order to avoid residual stress caused by heat difference between the tails and the conductive traces. The heat stress may create cracks between the tails and the conductive traces, resulting in poor quality of soldering.
In certain types of connectors, such as a DIMM (Dual In-Line Memory Module) socket connector, the tails of the connector are formed in two parallel rows extending along opposite sides of the connector housing. Since the tails are arranged along the sides of the connector housing, heat can be substantially uniformly applied to the tails and thus the heat stress problem is not severe.
However, when a connector has a great number of contacts, such as a BGA (Ball Grid Array) socket connector for use with a CPU (Central Processing Unit) module, wherein the tails of the contacts are arranged in a rectangular matrix or array, the problem described above becomes severe.
As shown in FIGS. 1-4 of the attached drawings, a typical BGA socket, generally designated with reference numeral 100, includes a great number of conductive contacts arranged in an array. An example of the BGA socket comprises 603 contacts. The BGA socket 100 includes a base 110 and a cover 120 moveably carried by the base 110. The cover 120 can carry and support a CPU module (not shown) thereon. The cover 120 defines a number of holes 121, such as 603 holes, in aligning with cells 111 defined in the base 110. Each cell 111 receives and retains a contact 112 including a tail portion 112a carrying a solder ball 130 extending beyond a bottom surface 110a of the base 110. Each contact 112 has an engaging portion 112b for electrical engagement with a pin leg of the CPU module.
As it can be readily appreciated from the drawings, when the BGA socket 100 is placed on a printed circuit board 150, there is a small gap between the bottom surface 110a and the printed circuit board 150. The solder balls 130 are melted through a re-flowing process in which heat source of infra red is imposed to the solder balls 130 so as to melt them down simultaneously.
As clearly seen from the drawings, the base 110 is a rectangular member and the solder balls 130 are arranged in a rectangular matrix. It can be easily understood that the solder balls 130 located adjacent to the outer edges of the base 110 can be quickly heated by the infrared wave through convention. However, the solder balls 130 that are located far from the edges will be comparatively difficult to be heated.
In the typical example, the BGA socket 100 is provided with an opening 113 which allows heat to be effectively transfer to the inner solder balls 130. This, however, does not completely solve the problem. In addition, some of the BGA sockets, such as the so called mPGA 478 socket connector used in notebook computers, are not provided with such an opening 113.
In addition, some of the BGA sockets may even have more than one thousand (1000) contacts/solder balls. Uniformly heating the solder balls, and simultaneously cool them down together so as to prevent a heat difference is really a critical and challenging issue to be addressed.
After the BGA socket is soldered to a circuit board through an SMT process, it is difficult to neatly remove the socket from the circuit board because it is hardly to get all the solder balls melted simultaneously and evenly for separating the connector contacts from the circuit board. This is because of the same reason of non-uniform heat distribution discussed above.
In current practice, the BGA socket connector is attached to a circuit board by an SMT process with the aid of infrared heating. The infrared wave creates a heat flow within a chamber in which the BGA socket is carried by a conveyor. The temperature within the chamber increases gradually till a certain point such that the solder balls melt to make soldering between the contact tails and the conductive pads/traces on the circuit board. Afterward, the BGA socket is cooled down.
From the above description, it can be appreciated that heat distribution, both in heating and cooling for the inner solder balls are an issue. Namely, the inner solder balls are difficult to be heated as well as cooled. A solution for evenly and simultaneously melting the solder balls is therefore required.
Most of the connectors are provided with a smooth surface which may be part of the connector itself or an additional part attached to the connector for handling the connector in a pick-and-place fashion by means of for example an industrial robot. In the BGA socket discussed above, an additional part, such as a plastic cap or tape, is attached to a top surface of the BGA socket for the pick-and-place operation. The use of the additional part increases costs of the connector.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide a heat distributor for use with an electrical connector to uniformly transfer heat to/from solder tails of the connector during a soldering process.
Another object of the present invention to provide a heat distributor capable to uniformly transfer heat to all the solder tails of the connector and also serve as a pick-and-place plate for handling the connector.
In order to achieve the objects set forth, an electrical system in accordance with the present invention comprises a printed circuit board with conductive traces formed thereon. An electrical connector comprises a base with an array of cells defined therein. The cells receive and retain conductive contacts having tail portions corresponding to the conductive traces. Soldering pre-forms are arranged between the conductive traces and the tail portions and a heat distributor is attached to the connector. The heat distributor has a base plate having a large surface area and conductive pins extending from the base plate and thermally engaging some or all of the contacts for facilitating uniform heat transfer to/from the soldering pre-forms thereby eliminating heat stress among the soldering pre-forms caused during the heating process.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the base plate is selectively provided with openings so as to control heat exposed thereon.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the base plate comprises fins extending upward to collect/dissipate heat.